Bice: Dentons continues local, national, global growth

Four years ago this month, our century-old midwestern law firm Bingham Greenbaum agreed to combine with Dentons, the world’s largest global law firm, resulting in Dentons Bingham Greenebaum. Our vision of being truly local and uniquely global has provided outstanding results for our firm, our partners and most importantly for our clients.

Revenue generation across U.S. law firms grew 7.3% in 2023, according to the 2024 Report on the State of the US Legal Market by Thomson Reuters and Georgetown Law. Locally at Dentons Bingham Greenebaum, we saw top line revenue growth of twice that national average. We are experiencing attorney growth in the double digits annually. Most importantly, our clients are now even better served by our unique ability to meet their needs here, across the country and around the world, all from our offices overlooking Monument Circle.

Lateral growth

The Dentons platform has proven to be a draw for experienced lawyers who want to take their practice to the next level on a local, national and/or global scale. Locally, our corporate group, which is focused primarily on middle market transactions, grew its headcount by 30% over the past three years.

Our lateral growth stems from listening to the needs of our clients and delivering the caliber of legal talent they have come to expect in the marketplace. In fact, BTI Consulting reports that clients want new ideas and new strategies, especially ideas they have not heard previously, according to their 2024 Market Outlook and Client Service Review. This means we need to continue delivering the breadth and depth of talent that clients demand across industries.

Connecting clients to opportunities

If not for our local, national and global reach, we would not have been able to meet the evolving needs of our clients in 2023. We are seeing that middle market M&A clients, in particular, are looking for a one-stop-shop for their legal needs, as many Midwest businesses pursue international acquisitions, in addition to their day-to-day legal needs.

For example, we have counseled clients on variety of international opportunities, such as helping publicly-traded clients acquire companies in Europe, helping private equity clients in the UK with deal-making in the U.S. market, managing data privacy risks for global companies across multiple jurisdictions, advising restructuring clients in Latin America, and advising on risks in complex contract terms from India to Singapore. This work coincides with the local deals and transactions we help clients with on a daily basis, which is what makes Dentons the best of both worlds.

We are also now able to support clients facing litigation in jurisdictions outside of our local footprint. If not for the combination with Dentons, we would not have been able to offer seamless client service in these complex litigation matters. We also have the opportunity to serve as local counsel for clients based across the U.S. and around the world.

Global demand on the rise

Eighty-four percent of companies with $1 billion or more in annual revenue have international legal needs, according to the Thomson Reuters’ Market Insights Q3 2023 Update. Those respondents also reported having a need for legal services in an average of 34 countries. Specific to the Midwest, the report further found 43% of Midwest companies with $1 billion or more in annual revenue intend to increase their legal spend in the next 12 months.

At Dentons, we have been hard at work expanding our global offering to meet the evolving, often international, requirements of our clients. We are focused on our clients’ needs, responding to their concerns and finding specific solutions to help them navigate their challenges and advance their opportunities — wherever those needs may be.

Growth through polycentric leadership

One of the unique aspects of Dentons that draws talent to us is our polycentric approach, which means that we do not have a single headquarters, and we reflect the diversity of our clients and of the communities in which we work and live.

In November, we had the opportunity to connect in person with a group of partners from our South Africa office. It was a terrific opportunity to introduce the group, led by Noor Kapdi, CEO of our Dentons Africa Region, to our partners here at the Indianapolis office.

I serve on the Global Management Committee and the Global Board and have seen firsthand how collaborating with leaders from around the world makes us a stronger firm. Our firm shares a vision to offer clients more services, more resources, more experience and more talent, as is evidenced by our combinations announced in 2023, including in India and the Philippines.

Dentons has first-mover advantage in India

In a landmark combination last May, Dentons became the first global law firm to combine with a law firm in India. This gives Dentons first-mover advantage to connect clients to opportunities in five cities in the world’s most populous country, according to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

Many large, multinational companies are seeing the opportunities in India to create efficiencies in operations and reset their supply chains, often in response to issues that arose during the pandemic. Several global technology manufacturers have shifted some production to India and have increased their Indian supplier base. Medium and small businesses face these same issues, and India offers them the same opportunities. We can help our local clients in manufacturing, life sciences, technology, energy and other industries as they move their production to India. We can help complete deals in India or advise on contract negotiations. Our combination with Dentons Link Legal provides trusted local counsel both in Indiana and India.

Dentons expands ASEAN presence

In 2023, we also announced our combination in the Philippines and are now able to serve clients in six of the largest economies in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or what is commonly known as ASEAN, a region of growing significance in the global economy.

In the coming weeks, we will combine with PJS Law, a leading full-service law firm in the Philippine market with 57 lawyers and professionals. It is owned and led by a strong team of 19 partners, 57% of whom are women. PJS Law is widely recognized in the market for their work and results in energy and infrastructure, projects, corporate, mergers and acquisitions, banking and finance, capital markets and dispute resolution, and is consistently ranked in the top tier among law firms by the world’s most influential legal and financial publications.

Across over 80 countries, Dentons helps clients grow, protect, operate and finance their organizations. We look forward to new opportunities to serve our clients locally, nationally and globally in 2024.•

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Keith Bice, based in Indianapolis, is a managing partner at Dentons and a national business and finance lawyer. He is a member of the Dentons Global Board, Global Management Committee and the US Region Board. Keith can be reached at [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author.